What Happens When You Smoke Mushrooms?
And should you? Leafly weighs the pros and cons of this method of ingesting psilocybin.
So far, the 2020s have been the best decade yet for mushroom lovers. They were first classified as a Schedule 1 substance in 1970. Many people turned to shrooms and psychedelics to cope with the early pandemic isolation, and new research has shown that psilocybin, the primary psychoactive compound in shrooms, holds great potential to help patients with mental health issues and addictions. By 2023, both Oregon and Colorado decriminalized them, along with local communities that include DC, San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, and parts of Massachusetts.
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As people become more comfortable with ingesting shrooms, they want to experiment and find the best consumption method that works for them. There are many ways to consume shrooms, from capsules to pralines to lemon tekking, but what about smoking? Cannabis lovers and mushroom lovers have a lot in common, but these two mystical plants cannot be consumed in the same way. While it is possible to smoke shrooms, the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages.
Ultimately, although you can smoke shrooms, at Leafly we advise against it. Smoking shrooms does not “activate” psilocybin like THC in cannabis, and exposing shrooms to direct flame effectively breaks down most of the psilocybin in the plant while potentially exposing the smoker to a fungal infection. The most effective way to ingest mushrooms is to ingest (eat) them.
How to smoke mushrooms
If you’re not taking our word for it and really want to try smoking shrooms, here’s some advice. Magic mushrooms don’t ignite as well as cannabis or other smokable herbs, so we recommend starting with that as a base. You can use the smoking paraphernalia you already have: a pipe, bong, rolling papers, grinder and a lighter are all you need. If you are not a regular cannabis and mushroom user, use a non-psychoactive smokable herb like cloves.
To avoid wasting your stash, use no more than about 0.3g to 0.5g of mushrooms, and grind them in a clean grinder beforehand. Scatter the ground mushrooms over your head or in your rolled joint, light up and enjoy. Since smoking shrooms is more wasteful than productive, don’t waste your high quality shrooms on it.
What Dose of Mushrooms Should You Smoke?
As with any new psychedelics or cannabis venture, start low and go slow. While smoking shrooms is unlikely to produce an intense effect, combining it with cannabis can have adverse effects. The quality of the smoke may also conflict with some consumers.
Do not smoke more than half a gram of shrooms and take time between each inhale to assess how you are feeling. Some people say they experience a similar high to an uplifting cannabis strain, but there’s no way to predict how smoking shrooms will affect a person.
Is it dangerous to smoke mushrooms?
While smoking shrooms is not necessarily life-threatening, it does carry some risks. Mushrooms, like all mushrooms, are fungi and can accumulate unwanted mold and bacteria if not properly grown and stored. Smoking mold can cause nausea, coughing, and throat and chest irritation. In severe cases, smoking moldy mushrooms can even cause an infection.
Possible side effects of smoking mushrooms
We think that smoking shrooms is pointless because it can cause:
- dizziness and nausea
- Mild to negligible psychedelic effects
- irritation of the throat
- Possible infection through contact with mold
- bad taste
What are the best ways to consume mushrooms besides smoking?
Smoking mushrooms should be the last resort. Mushrooms have much better therapeutic and psychedelic potency when eaten or made into a tea or Lemon Tek. We recommend:
- Eat pure mushrooms
- Process them into mushroom tea
- Lemon tekking your mushrooms
- Eat them in chocolate or gummy form
How to have a smooth mushroom trip
To ensure you have a great trip with shrooms, stick to it as people have been doing for thousands of years. Our best tips are:
- Get your mushrooms from a trusted source, or grow your own if you’re comfortable.
- Stay hydrated and eat beforehand.
- Stay in a familiar, comfortable environment, ideally with other people who can help if the journey takes a bad turn.
- Do not take a higher dose than you are comfortable with.
How does smoking weed on shrooms affect your trip?
Both mushrooms and weed have long, colorful histories, and it’s not uncommon for people from different societies to combine them. Leafly contributor Alexa Peters reported that concomitant use of cannabis can amplify a psilocybin trip, sometimes to an uncomfortable degree. Some anecdotal evidence suggests that microdosing of both substances may help improve mood and reduce anxiety, and cannabis may aid in coming down mushrooms.
As is usually the case, medical professionals say more research is needed to better understand how these two substances interact and influence each other’s effectiveness.
Sorry to burst your bladder, but smoking shrooms just isn’t a good way to benefit from shrooms and psilocybin. Save the smoke for weed and enjoy your shroomies the old-fashioned way.
Amelia Williams
New York-based freelance cannabis journalist Amelia Williams is a graduate of San Francisco State University’s journalism program and a former budtender. Williams has contributed to GreenState, MG Magazine, Culture Magazine and Cannabis Now, Kirkus Reviews and The Bold Italic of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Check out Amelia Williams’ articles
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